Two Nobel Prize winners, five women, “bringing together” politics and research… What do we know about the Presidential Science Council wanted by Emmanuel Macron?

The President of the Republic must unveil a new Presidential Science Council on Thursday. Twelve members will be part of it, including two Nobel Prize winners.

Emmanuel Macron will announce Thursday, December 7 at the Elysée the creation of a Presidential Science Council, in front of an audience of nearly 300 scientists, researchers and start-ups. This group of twelve high-level scientists must provide advice to the executive to guide its research and innovation policy, like the Scientific Council set up during the Covid pandemic, and since replaced by the committee of monitoring and anticipation of health risks (Covars).

Microbiology, ecology, mathematics, economics or sociology… Most disciplines are represented there. Of these twelve members, five are women and there are two Nobel Prize winners: that of economics (commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics), Jean Tirole, and that of physics, Alain Aspect.

“It would be good to bring together” politics and research

For Claire Mathieu, computer science researcher, algorithm specialist and member of this Council, this new institution must make it possible to reconcile two worlds: politics and scientific research. “We observe a tendency towards distrust on one side towards the other, and vice versa. It would be good to bring them together so that they know each other a little better, so that the president of the République and those around him are perhaps more familiar with the latest scientific advances in our field.”she defends.

But if the executive wants more efficient scientists, their work must be simplified, defends José-Alain Sahel. These are even priorities for this ophthalmologist, another member of this Council. “The bureaucracy is gigantic and often for subjects that are of little relevance. So that’s a big dispersion of efforts and resources and it’s only getting worse”according to him.

Useful advice or political communication tool?

Administrative simplification, improvement of working conditions and particularly salaries… These recommendations have already been repeated. It remains to be seen whether this new Council will have a real impact on the world of research. And on this subject, “my point of view is simple“, affirms José-Alain Sahel.

“You can’t just be saying ‘it doesn’t work’ and when asked for your opinion, not give it.”

José-Alain Sahel, ophthalmologist, member of the Presidential Science Council

at franceinfo

“Will it be useful or not? We’ll probably know much later”, sweeps José-Alain Sahel. A first meeting of this Council will take place Thursday morning, just after the official presentation. In any case, this day marks the start of a sequence of presidential communications around research and innovation. Emmanuel Macron will be in Toulouse on Monday for a visit around France 2030.